Bigcats News

[Sanju]

300km epic tiger trip, & not a human touched
P Naveen | TNN | Feb 13, 2019, 08:38 IST
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...969193.cms

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Pugmark of a tiger (Representative image)

As Gujarat seeks to claim the unique distinction of being home to both the Asiatic Lion and tigers — or at least one tiger — wildlife officers and environmentalists in Madhya Pradesh are stunned at how the big cat crossed densely populated regions without any conflict with humans, unlike the tiger that walked in here from Maharashtra, killing two people on the way.

Initially, it was thought that the tiger that has been seen in Gujarat had moved from Melghat tiger reserve in Maharashtra. But MP forest officials confirmed it was from Ratapani sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, barely 50km from Bhopal.

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Quote:“This is our tiger. We have matched the images,” said Ujjain CCF B S Annigiri. “We were tracking it till it was in our jurisdiction. Now that it has reached Gujarat, they will take care of it. After all, animals have no borders," said the officer.

Camera trap images confirm that this is the same tiger that was spotted close to Nagda hills of Dewas in January 2017. It was believed to have moved from Ratapani via the forested tracts of Bagli and Udaynagar.

In November the same year, the tiger was seen in Manglia (Indore) and then Barnagar in Ujjain district. There were further sightings at Petlawad (Jhabua), close to the Gujarat border after which it wasn’t detected for a long time — until the recent sighting in Boriya in Gujarat.

Throughout its journey, tiger avoided people

Throughout its 300km journey, the tiger lived and moved very close to human habitations and while its presence created some panic among villagers, it avoided people and might have survived on livestock and wild animals like wild pigs and nilgai, said officials.

Conservation professional Vaibhav Chaturvedi said, “This long-distance dispersal has revived hope for tigers in Vindhyachal landscape.” The Vindhyachal mountain range that runs for 1000km from Gujarat and across MP into Kaimur range in the East, has historically been a stronghold of tigers.

Quote:“With focussed conservation efforts and better protection, tigers are reclaiming their lost territory across Vindhyas. There is a need to keep these forest tracts intact and monitor tiger populations and their recovery,” said Chaturvedi.

The big cat was spotted in Gir National Park and Sanctuary (What!!?? lol).

Camera traps installed in the Lunwad-Santrampur forest in the state’s northern district of Mahisagar caught the tiger moving around on Monday night, said district deputy range forest officer R M Parmar. The Gir National Park and Sanctuary, home to Asiatic lions, is located around 500 kms from Lunawad-Santrampur forest where tiger was spotted.
“We had installed five cameras around a waterbody where the teacher had reported the sighting,” Parmar said, adding that the forest department had earlier found pugmarks and hair of the tiger in the area. “The images now have put all the doubts to rest”. 

The Gujarat government is likely to start tiger safaris soon with a tag line, “One state in India to have both tigers and lions”.

The Centre has accepted proposal to start safaris at Kevadiya, Dangs and Surat, a forest department official said.

Feb 13, 2019 07:01 IST  https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-new...A0axJ.html Reply